Indirect data show that the number of families in Albania is falling rapidly from year to year, mainly as a result of high emigration.
In the annual household budget survey, INSTAT reported that the number of households last year reached 765,551, or 3412 households less than in 2020.
Data from the family budget survey show that the number of families was increasing until 2018, but then the decline began. In 2019, there were almost 1,000 fewer families than in 2018, and in 2021, 7,100 families or 1% less than in 2018, when the highest number of families in the last decade was recorded.
After 2014, mass emigration of families spread through requests for economic asylum in EU countries, mainly in Germany and France. This year, a new emigration route with dinghies in Britain is generating a new traffic of Albanian families.
Also, family reunifications with emigrants who fled in the first decade of emigration are emptying the country more and more of families.
Previous surveys by INSTAT have found that emigration in the last decade took on the characteristics of leaving family units. After the abolition of visas in 2013, the chances of immigrating with the whole family increased.
The geography of immigration in the last decade has also affected the counties with the highest standard of living such as Tirana, Fieri and Durres, where the average family income is generally above the national average.
The 2011-2019 immigration survey found that the city of Shkodra had the highest level of immigration in relation to the population of the district. During the period 2011-2019, 16.7% of the city's population emigrated, about 36 thousand people, of which 15,700 are family emigrations.
After Shkodra, Fieri ranks second for the high level of emigration in relation to the population. In the last decade, 15.5% of the population emigrated from Fier County, where 5% of them were grouped in families. More than 48,000 people have left Fier County, which has the second highest standard of living after Tirana. The third place is occupied by the County of Durrës, which has lost 14.1% of the population in the last decade, where the population has decreased by over 37 thousand people.
Tirana ranks fourth for the high level of immigration in total. The population of Tirana District has decreased by 13.7%, or by 102 thousand people during 2011-2019, but 77 thousand people have migrated grouped in families. The survey revealed that Tirana has the highest emigration of family units compared to other counties. During the period, 10.3% of the district's families emigrated.
In fifth place for high emigration comes Elbasan, where 12.5% of the resident population registered in 2011 immigrated, where 5.2% of them were grouped in families. In sixth place, Kukes County, which has lost 12.4% of its population to emigration during the decade, more than 10,000 people, but this county has also been greatly affected by internal migration of the population.